Circular loop above Poupehan

Date of your route : May 15, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A lovely walk without too much of a climb.

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Date of your route : Dec 09, 2024
Reliability of the description : Not used / Not applicable
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

We did this route in November, on a Monday, and there was no one else around… We followed the route using the sat-nav, and at one point we had to follow the trail even though the path had disappeared, but it was easy enough. The forest was still lovely and easy to walk through, even though it had rained recently.

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Date of your route : Jul 15, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

A lovely route; the Belgian Ardennes are very pleasant too

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Date of your route : Mar 12, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average
Very busy route : No

I have mixed feelings about this walk: the second half is more enjoyable than the first, but the route description has numerous gaps.

Up to point 3 (roughly halfway), you walk along a very wide path that’s rather uninteresting. From the start to point 2, you walk past logging operations, with no views. The path from point 2 to 3 is a bit more pleasant, but runs below a road that it follows.
I assume the view of Poupehan is from point 3, but we didn’t see anything. (Perhaps we weren’t paying close enough attention, but it would be worth specifying in the description where you can access this lovely viewpoint.)

At point 4, be careful – it isn’t mentioned in the description, but you have to wade across the stream! Nothing insurmountable (when we crossed, the water came up below our ankles), but you need to choose your crossing point carefully, and it’s easier with wellies or, at the very least, high-top, waterproof shoes.

Between points 4 and 5, the description is rather cryptic: you need to turn left at some point, as you climb alongside the stream. We missed the fork (we didn’t even see it, so it didn’t occur to us). In the end, we followed another path further up. The map and your GPS are your friends!
Note that this section climbs steeply.

A lovely encounter between points 5 and 6: a few wild mouflons! They watched us from a distance with a suspicious look, ready to bolt at the slightest movement. We tried not to disturb them too much, but we took our time observing them through our binoculars.

Finally, after crossing the road at point 7, we couldn’t find the path that was supposed to take us to point 8. It wasn’t for lack of trying. So we turned back and, to avoid going back onto the road, we followed the fences along the edge of the woods until we reached the starting point again.

In short, that’s a bit too many mistakes for a single walk. No doubt some of them were our own fault; perhaps we weren’t paying close enough attention. But a slightly more precise description and the addition of certain markers (particularly where you need to cross the stream, between points 4 and 5) to draw walkers’ attention to features that are hard to spot would be useful.

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